Our
hearts bleed on the assassination of our United Kingdom
Missionary, the late Imam Muhammad Anwar Shaheed at
Georgetown, Guyana. We hope all sane persons will join us in
condemnation of this brutal, pre-planned and conspiratorial
murder. It is tragic that some wolves in the garb of clerics
go about in the world of religion even in this era of
civilisation and enlightenment. We know of no scripture
which teaches murder, arson, looting and rape simply on
account of a difference of opinion in religious matters. It
is borne out by history that in spite of no scripture
permitting compulsion in the matters of belief, the
establishment clerics in various eras have been sowing seeds
of hatred and prejudice in the minds of their followers
against their fellow human beings in the very name of God
and Religion. Even presently, we Ahmadis and many other
religious groups are being persecuted in many lands at the
behest and call of the so-called fundamentalists whose
cadres are swelled with the pseudo-religionists, the
so-called establishment ulama
[clerics]. Day in and day out they exhort
their ignorant followers at criminal acts against those who
do not agree with their viewpoint in religious beliefs.
Little do they realise that if all religious groups were to
choose to play the game according to the rules followed by
these criminals, then millions of heads, including theirs,
would roll in the dust overnight. Religious platform is not
a proper forum for gangsterism and criminal conspiracy. By
their black deeds, they in fact bring their religion to
disrepute and do not render any service to God or the
religion itself.

Today's man, because of the
ever-looming sense of the danger of the complete
annihilation of mankind from the thousands of nuclear
warheads amassed and stockpiled by the military powers of
this era, stands in need of some harmonising force which
could guarantee peace and thus could grant him the much
needed sense of security. Religion, no doubt, is and can
prove such a fortifying force in these distressed times; but
only if the establishment clerics let free the harmonising
teachings of the religion, based on love, compassion and
understanding. It is high time that the professional priests
and establishment clerics who have hitherto ruled in the
arena of religion as a force much stronger and powerful than
God Himself make way for God and the word of God. For the
survival of the human race, it is essential that this
practice of usurpation by the establishment clerics in the
very name of God and the religion should end, or else it is
feared that the religion they stand for will drown along
with them. Today's mankind can ill-afford any forces of
hatred, prejudice and diversity, even if these be in the
name of religion. Establishment clericsim or religion as a
force of unity and harmony  the choice is hard, yet it
has to be made. The sooner the better, as professional
priestcraft and establishment clericism are outdated. It is
a writ large on the walls of time.

For us, the matter is crystal clear.
The late Imam Anwar Shaheed laid down his life in the path
of preserving freedom of conscience. Freedom of conscience
is a gift of God to mankind and honourable and righteous men
at different junctures of history have preserved this
freedom even by paying the price of laying down their lives.
If it was not so, then the truth, the justice, the
righteousness and the true religion would have been
completely wiped out from the earth. If the Holy Prophet
Muhammad, peace be on him, and his companions had not made
supreme sacrifices by suffering at the hands of their
torturers for the sake of upholding the truth manifested to
them, the world would not have been enlightened by the light
of the beauteous teachings of Islam. Again, Iman Hussain and
seventy-two family members of the Prophets family, by
laying down their lives for the preservation of the freedom
of conscience rather than submitting to the tyrannical
forces of injustice and usurpation, have enlightened the
path of human freedom, which serves as a lighthouse for the
forces of freedom for all ages. The state and the
establishment clerics had joined hands in murdering Imam
Hussain and his family members, as they have joined hands
against us today. Hussain is a symbol of freedom and
righteousness for all freedom fighters, whereas Yazid and
his partisan ulama are a symbol of evil and
injustice. This war between Hussainiyyat and
Yazidiyat is an ever-continuing process. Thank God
that we are not in the lines of the tyrants, the usurpers
and the unjust and unrighteous. We are following in the
footsteps of Imam Hussian by being ready to suffer even our
lives for the sake of preserving our freedom of conscience
and not submitting to the forces of evil. Thanks be to Allah
that we are in the ranks of sufferers in the path of holding
fast to HablAllah and not in the lines of the
torturers. The ultimate victory of the forces of truth and
righteousness lies in our willingness to smilingly suffer
all adversities and afflictions in the cause so dear to all
of us  the cause of DeenAllah. We are the
forces of DeenAllah against Deen-en-Mullah and
shall continue to suffer any afflictions for the sake of
keeping the banner of the freedom of conscience flying high,
even at the cost of our lives. The martyrdom of Imam Anwar
is just evidence of our convictions and dedication in the
cause we espouse. His blood shall always enlighten the path
for all lovers of the righteousness and freedom of
conscience for all times. He is just one more victim of
Yazidiyyat, just another star on the path of
Hussainiyyat. By embracing death in the cause of
Allah, he attained life eternal.